State Senate approves parole for juvenile lifers

BOSTON — Massachusetts senators on Tuesday approved a bill that would allow juveniles convicted of first-degree murder to become eligible for parole after serving between 20 and 30 years in prison.

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By BOB SALSBERG

southcoasttoday.com

By BOB SALSBERG

Posted Jul. 9, 2014 at 12:06 AM

By BOB SALSBERG

Posted Jul. 9, 2014 at 12:06 AM

» Social News

BOSTON — Massachusetts senators on Tuesday approved a bill that would allow juveniles convicted of first-degree murder to become eligible for parole after serving between 20 and 30 years in prison.

The measure passed on a 37-2 vote after amendments that sought a higher minimum parole threshold were defeated, some by slim margins. It will have to be reconciled with a slightly different House version that sets parole eligibility at 20-25 years for most juvenile lifers, and 25-30 years in cases with extreme cruelty or atrocity.

The Senate bill represented the latest effort by lawmakers to reconcile Massachusetts law with rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court and the state's highest court that found mandatory life sentences without parole unconstitutional for juveniles.

The state, which has no death penalty, has in the past mandated life without parole for all first-degree murder convictions regardless of age. Juveniles age 14 or older can be tried for murder as adults.

Under the bill, judges must give inmates convicted of first-degree murder before their 18th birthday a chance to go before the state parole board no sooner than 20 years, but not longer than 30 years into their sentences.

Currently, more than 60 inmates in Massachusetts including several from Bristol and Plymouth counties, are serving first-degree murder sentences for crimes committed as juveniles. The parole board has begun reviewing their cases, but the bill would not be retroactive to apply to them.